Yes, and my opinion is that medley is the greatest part of album. It's like our life: sometimes sad[:(], sometimes funny[:)]...I often ask myself: what did John mean in Come Together? Is it about politics or sex? I read that this song was written by John for one rocker who wanted to become a governor of California. Is it a PR song?!!!!

Laewsky: yeah it really was, in a first version, but then that guy who would have used it as a campaign song got into some trouble, and there was no need for the song anymore. So John changed the lyrics (which in the earlier version probably made sense) to nonsense. I think a lot about what the old lyrics were like, and I always get the impression that the "One thing I can tell you is you've gotta be free" was surely part of the original lyrics. It sounds good for campaigning. But it's just my crazy thoughts about this fabulous masterpiece...BTW I also find the medley part fantastic. Not that I don't think the other parts are great, but htere's something special about it.

quote:Originally posted by Laewsky what did John mean in Come Together? Is it about politics or sex? I read that this song was written by John for one rocker who wanted to become a governor of California. That was Dr. Timothy Leary, Harvard professor and a proponent of LSD. He was a big hero to the Moody Blues. He died in '96. He was out there, but could be entertaining at times.

quote:Originally posted by dsnitoWho saw Leary´s slow death on the web??? That was his last trip and amazed the people, so unusual was that!! Only him could have done such bizarre show...that was a kind of "Art Of Dying" I think...

Peace.Not me, I wasn't wired until 2 years later. Leary was one jaded dude. That's about as morbid as it gets, very nutty, sounds like something Dr. Evil would think of, lol.

I read somewhere that George came up with the intro to Here Comes The Sun by noodling around with the If I Needed Someone intro.

Here 'tis, an old 'stone interview from the horse's mouth himself:George gave Rolling Stone the following track-by-track observation of the songs on Abbey Road:

"Come Together," the first track on side one, was one of the last trucks to be recorded. John wrote it about a month ago, just after his car accident. It's a 12 bar type of tune -- and one of the nicest things we've done musically, Ringo's drumming is great. [Ringo, sitting across the room, grinned.] It's an upbeat, rock'-a-beat-a-boogie, with very Lennon lyrics.

"Something" is a song of mine. I wrote it just as we were finishing the last album, the white one. But it was never finished. I could never think of the right words for it. Joe ****er has done version too, and there's talk of it being the next Beatles' single. When I recorded it, I imagined somebody like Ray Charles doing it, that was the feel I thought it should have. But because I'm not Ray Charles -- I'm much more limited in what I can do -- we just did what we could. It's nice though, probably the nicest melody I've even written.

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is just something of Paul's. We spent a hell of a lot of time recording this one. It's one of these instant, whistle-along tunes which some people will hate and others will love. It's like "Honey Pie," a fun sort of thing, but probably sick as well because the guy keeps killing everybody. We used my Moog synthesizer on this track, and I think it came out effectively.

"Oh! Darling" is another of Paul's songs which is typical 1950-1960 sort of period in its chord structure. It's a typical 1955 song which thousands of groups used to make -- the Moonglows, the Paragons, the Shells and so on. We do a few ooh-oohs in the background, very quietly, but mainly it's Paul shouting.

"Octopus's Garden" is Ringo's song, the second he's written. It's lovely. Ringo gets very bored playing the drums, so at home he plays the piano. But he only knows about three chords. And he knows about the same on guitar. He mainly likes country music, so this has a C&W feel. It's really a great song. On the surface, it's a daft kids song, but I find the lyrics very meaningful. I find very deep meaning in the lyrics which Ringo probably doesn't even know about.

Lines like "resting our head on the seabed" and "we'll be warm beneath the storm." It makes me realize that when you get deep into your consciousness its very peaceful. So Ringo writes his cosmic songs without knowing it. [From across the room Ringo grinned again].

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is very heavy. It has John playing lead guitar and singing the same as he plays. This is good because the riff he sings is basically a blues.

But it's a very original Lennon-like song, even though I'd written it. The middle bit is great . . . John has an amazing thing with his timing. He always comes across with different timing things, for example "All You Need Is Love," which sort of skips beats out and changes from 3-4 to 4-4 all the time, in and out of each other.

Yet when you question him about it, he doesn't know. He just does it naturally and you can't pin him down. The bridge section is like that -- it's an excellent chord sequence he's using.

"Here Comes the Sun," the first cut on side two, is the other song I wrote for the album. It was written on a very nice sunny day in Eric Clapton's garden. We'd been through real hell with business, and it was all very heavy. Being in Eric's garden felt like playing hooky from school. I found some sort of release and the song just came.

It's a bit like "If I Needed Someone" with the basic riff running through it. But it is very simple really.

"Because" is one of the most beautiful things we've ever done. It has three-part harmony -- John, Paul and George. John wrote the song, and the backing is a bit like Beethoven. It does resemble Paul's writing style but only because of the sweetness it has. Paul usually writes the sweet things and John does the rave ups and freakier things. But every now and then, John just wants to write a simple 12-bar thing.

I think this is my favorite track as the album, it's so simple, especially the lyrics. The harmony is very difficult to do, we had to really learn it.

I think this is the tune that still impress most people. Hip people will dig it and the straight people and serious music critics will think it's really good.

Then begins the medley of Paul and John songs all shoved together. It's hard to describe them unless you hear them at the same time. "You Never Give Me Your Money" is like two songs, the bridge of it is like a completely different song. You whip out of that and into "Sun King," which John wrote. He originally called it "Los Paranois."

"Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" are two short songs which John wrote in India 18 months ago.

"She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" is a very good song of Paul's with great lyrics. "Golden Slumbers" is another very melodic song by Paul which links up.

"Carry That Weight" keeps coming in out of the medley all the way through.

"The End" is just that, a little sequence which ends it all.

Despite the fact that Abbey Road was only recently completed, George says he has no overall image of it yet. "I just can't get any complete impression of Abbey Road. With Pepper and even the white album, I got an overall image of the complete product, but with this one, I'm still at a loss. I think it's a bit like Revolver, but I still feel very abstract about it. I just can't see it as a whole entity yet."

It seems he describes it as a John song which he wrote, I mean all those ideas about timing are John's I don't think would have spent so much time on a George song let alone sing it, it doesn't make sense. Everything is Lennon-like about that song, I don't think George wrote it.

I think GH may be talking about the particular guitar riff, which he very well may have had a huge hand in. When he describes HCTS, he says "one of two I wrote", so I know he isnt taking credit for the SONG, IWY(SSH)..maybe just the riff.

quote:Originally posted by Steve-oI think GH may be talking about the particular guitar riff, whihc he very wll may have had a huge hand in.Makes sense, Steve-o. It is a good bluesy riff, he really nailed the guitar sound just right. Maybe he shoulda got official credit, but I guess they worked these things out.

Yeah Harry, it would seem John was quick at picking up on George's riff, put his spin on it and then made it his own.